There was a chance, Hermione realized, for her to do something incredibly stupid.
It would be incredibly risky, incredibly impulsive, and incredibly foolish. And incredibly stupid – there was no denying that.
But it would also be incredibly helpful if it worked.
She had witnessed Sirius Black run from Gryffindor Tower. He couldn't have gone far, or McGonagall would have seen him – she'd appeared soon after. And Fred and George appearing mid-party with sweets had reminded Hermione of a secret tunnel out of the school – one whose entrance was just down the staircase nearest the Gryffindor portrait hole through a witch's hump.
And she was wearing her Time-Turner, tucked down her robes as it always was.
Hermione gnawed her lip, weighing the pros and cons and the risks. All Sirius Black had was a knife, and she had her wand. She was fairly sure she'd be able to disarm him easily. He could try to attack her physically, but if she could block him from doing so, she'd be fine. The only danger was if Black was crazy and had some other weapon, or he somehow presented some other threat she didn't know of.
Even as she weighed the risks and potential consequences, some part of Hermione knew she was just pretending with herself. She already knew what she was going to do – she couldn't not take action if she had the chance, regardless of the personal risk. It was foolish and foolhardy and headstrong, but Hermione had done such things before, and they'd all turned out mostly okay, hadn't they?
Besides. He didn't even have a wand.
Hermione crept towards the portrait hole underneath the invisibility cloak. She waited until everyone had gone back to bed or left the common room before climbing out of the portrait hole. She hid in a corner of the hallway under the cloak and spun her Time-Turner three times, and the world blurred around her before resettling, sending her back in time to just before curfew.
Still invisible, Hermione made her way down to the third floor and the one-eyed witch. As she quietly descended the stairs, avoiding anyone else she saw, she considered her options.
Her first thought was to use the Ancient Runes they'd been learning recently to make a runic barrier to block Sirius Black from running away. She could carve it into the dirt beforehand, and then bleed on it after he'd gone into the school, and she could activate it with her wand once he came running back at her.
Only – well, making a runic barrier would take a lot of time, wouldn't it? And she didn't have her textbooks on her for reference. And carving runes in the dirt would be extraordinarily difficult – it was hard enough to make a circle in dirt, as she'd learned with her coven. In order to get anything very specific in the dirt, she'd practically have to use her earth elemental to coax the ground—
Her thoughts screeched to an immediate halt, and Hermione shook her head at herself, wryly amused.
Sometimes, she forgot just what all she could do.
She hid outside of the witch's hump, watching it carefully. Time crept by painstakingly slowly, and Hermione tried to entertain herself by running through her ancient runes in her head, trying to remember as many meanings as she could. Professor Babbling had been going over secondary meanings and merkstaved meanings of different runes lately, discussing how they could interfere with primary meaning usage, and Hermione was having to revise her already-memorized mental list of runes with the new information as best she could.
Finally, there was a sound, and Hermione's head jerked up.
It was Sirius Black.
A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. Waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face it looked like a skull. If eyes hadn't been shining out of deep, dark sockets, Hermione might have mistaken him for a corpse climbing out of the witch's hump.
But his crazed, manic face matched the poster and picture in the Prophet, and Hermione had no doubt about who it was.
Sirius Black took a moment to collect himself, drawing himself up in his tattered black robes before he made his way to the stairs. Hermione caught the glint of a knife in his hand as he ascended, and as soon as he was out of sight, she rushed to the witch's hump, tapping it with her wand.
"Dissendium," she whispered, and the hump opened up.
She slid down the hump into the dirt tunnel. A Lumos lit up her path, and she hurried maybe halfway down the tunnel before stopping. This was far enough away from the entrance to Hogwarts that no one would be able to hear, and still far enough from Hogsmeade as to not raise any alarms.
Hermione hummed, closing her eyes and focusing on her magic, before reaching out and touching her earth elemental, nudging it awake as she did.
The earth elemental inside of her felt cautious but amused as she coaxed it awake, and as she channeled her magic through it, she reached out to touch the wall of the tunnel, visualizing what she wanted.
It happened fairly slowly at first, then quicker – the tunnel closed in front of her, rapidly narrowing to a pinpoint, the passage narrowing into a cone before cutting off, the earth blocking the way completely. A few yards back, Hermione reached out the earth again while touching the tunnel wall, and it hollowed out ever so slightly, making a tiny alcove she could use to hide herself in and not get bowled over when Sirius Black came running through.
She pressed herself back into the alcove, still hidden under Harry's cloak. She kept her wand in her hand, ever ready, and she kept her other hand on the wall of the tunnel, ready with her earth magic as well. Now, all she had to do was wait.
She didn't have to wait long.
There was a faint sound down the tunnel, and then a rapid sound of running and scratching, and Hermione was astonished to see a dog go running past her towards the blocked tunnel. There was a yelp as the dog slid into the earthen barrier and crashed, then a blur of magic as the dog transformed back into a man, clad in tattered, dusty robes.
"What in the everloving bloody fuck?" he said hoarsely. He carefully prodded at the walls of the narrowed cone, before kicking at the dirt. "No! Let me through!"
Hermione stepped out from her alcove silently.
"Expelliarmus!"
Sirius Black's knife was yanked from his hand, flying towards Hermione. Sirius turned with a startled shout, and Hermione side-stepped the knife, letting it fly down the tunnel behind her.
"Who's there—"
"Incarcerous!"
Hermione hadn't practiced with the binding spell, only read the theory, but it worked like a dream – conjured ropes flew from her wand, tying and trussing up Sirius Black in moments, though he shouted and struggled against them. Once it was clear he wouldn't be escaping, Hermione emerged from the Invisibility Cloak and cast a bright Lumos charm, her eyes watching Sirius Black closely.
Sirius Black gaped at her.
"That's—" he said hoarsely. "That's James' old cloak…"
"It is," Hermione said, watching him. "I borrowed it off of his son, Harry."
Sirius' eyes widened.
"Who are you?" he wanted to know. "How did you close the tunnel?"
"Magic," Hermione said. She gave him a speculative look. "So. You're an Animagus. Is that how you escaped Azkaban?"
Immediately, Sirius sneered.
"What's it to you?" he said, scowling.
"I'm curious," Hermione admitted. "I understand your defensiveness. However, please notice what's currently going on."
"What's going on—? You've captured me," he said. He spat bitterly on the ground, resuming his struggling. "I'm not an idiot."
"I have," Hermione said calmly. "And yet – I've made no move to go and get the professors, or the Aurors, or the dementors. Instead, I'm asking you questions."
Sirius paused. His eyes slowly widened.
"…are you going to let me go?" he breathed, incredulous.
"That remains to be seen," Hermione said amicably. "First, I want some answers to my questions."
Sirius looked like he couldn't believe it.
"Anything," he said hoarsely. "Ask me anything. Just don't hand me in. What do you want to know?"
Hermione sat down on the dirt floor, crossing her legs. After a moment, a press of air magic helped Sirius settle down into a sitting position as well, despite the bindings, instead of leaving him leaning up awkwardly against the tunnel wall.
"First," she said, "can you explain why, when Harry and I did a Blood-Debt ritual to capture you for betraying his family, we didn't get you in our circle, but managed to catch someone's pet rat instead?"
Sirius' eyes bulged, and he stopped breathing for a moment. He stared at her for a long moment, before he started to laugh slowly. His low laugh grew into a crazed cackle, echoing maniacally down the tunnel, and when he finally settled down, his eyes seemed to glow.
"Oh, can I ever," he purred. "Just wait until you hear this story, girl."
According to Sirius Black, the Blood Debt ritual had not deposited Sirius Black into the coven's circle because Sirius Black had not betrayed James and Lily Potter. Another man, another friend of James and Sirius, had been the Secret-Keeper for the Fidelius Charm instead. A man who was an unregistered Animagus, just like Sirius. A man who could turn into a rat. A man Sirius had been imprisoned for murdering twelve years ago.
A man named Peter Pettigrew.
"Walk me through this," Hermione said, her mind spinning. "You're saying you, James, and Peter all became unregistered Animagi while you were still in school?"
Sirius grinned a mangled grin, yellow teeth sticking out in the dim light.
"Took us three years to manage it," he said. "Helped that James was a Transfiguration genius."
"And you did this… why?"
"So we could hang out with Moony on full moon nights," Sirius said, shrugging. His voice was becoming a little stronger now, less hoarse from disuse. "Werewolves go after humans. With animals, it's different. We were safe."
Hermione blinked.
"And it only takes a moment to transform," she said thoughtfully. "What was James' Animagus form?"
"Stag," Sirius said. "Great big bloody thing, too."
A stag… that answered some questions Hermione didn't realize she had regarding comments Lupin had made before. He'd recognized the animal of Harry's Patronus immediately, and he'd commented he'd been around stags fairly often too.
"I'm guessing James turned into a stag to block the tunnel from the Shrieking Shack to the Whomping Willow?" she asked. "To give Snape time to escape without getting mauled?"
Sirius froze, his eyes narrowing.
"What do you care about that?" he wanted to know. "S'got nothing to do with Peter Pettigrew or the death of the Potters."
"I heard about the incident," Hermione said. "I was curious how James managed to help Snape get away."
Sirius snorted. "Why? What's it matter?"
"Snape is my Head of House," Hermione said, shrugging.
Sirius' face morphed into an expression of disgust, then one of incredulity.
"Harry Potter is friends with a Slytherin?" he spat.
"With two of us, actually," Hermione said, examining her nails. "He's in my coven, along with another Slytherin, a Hufflepuff, and a Ravenclaw."
Sirius sneered at her.
"A coven's a very specific thing, girl," he told her. "Don't use words you don't know the meaning of."
"Oh, honestly—" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Here – look. Do you know what this is?"
She moved closer, showing Sirius the coven ring on her hand.
"This is a traditional coven ring," she informed him. "We all wear them. We have since we formally bound our magic together on Beltane."
Sirius' jaw dropped.
"Harry Potter's – he's in an actual coven?" he sputtered. "How? How did you corrupt him so far? James and Lily would never—"
Hermione's temper flared.
"Merlin's pants!" she snapped, exasperated. "I'd hoped that you would be able to grasp the idea that covens aren't innately evil! Lupin seemed able to, after a while."
Sirius's eyes narrowed.
"Remus knows about this coven?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yes," Hermione said pointedly. "We told him when he gave our coven private lessons on the Patronus charm. He was confused how we were all managing it when we're only a bunch of second and third years. We explained how our coven bond let us share our power with each other. He was thrown a bit, but once we explained how it had already helped us save Harry's life once, he came around after a while."
Sirius' face was contorting into several odd expressions.
"You're not going to convince me that Slytherins aren't evil," he said finally, defiant.
"Can I convince you that at least some Slytherins aren't evil?" Hermione asked, annoyed. "Because there definitely are evil Slytherins, I'll give you that. Seven of them tried to murder me my first year here because I have muggle parents. But not everyone is a blood-purist Voldemort follower."
"You—you have muggle parents?" Sirius seemed incredulous.
"Yes," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. "Two of them."
"And you're in Slytherin?"
Hermione began to wonder at the level of mental trauma extended dementor exposure might inflict on a person in addition to magical trauma. These really weren't hard concepts.
"I'm ambitious," she said, shrugging. "It was the best fit. Except for the awful blood discrimination and snobs, it does suit me, really."
Sirius looked very doubtful, and Hermione sighed.
"We're getting off topic," she said. "To recap: yes, I am in Slytherin; yes, Harry is friends with me; yes, we are in a coven together; yes, Snape is my Head of House. So I repeat," she said, fixing him with a look, "is turning into a stag how James managed to save Snape from being killed the night you sent him to meet Lupin in the Shrieking Shack?"
There was a pause as Sirius eyed her up, measuring.
"Yes," he said shortly.
"And you admit you sent Snape to see Lupin, fully aware that it was the night of the full moon?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.
Sirius gnashed his teeth for a long moment.
"Yes," he spat. "But he deserved it, girl – you don't know anything about who Severus Snape really is."
"I know he was a sixth-year student you tried to have killed," she shot back.
"He was Dark as they come, girl," Sirius snarled. "Hanging about with Avery and Rowle all the time – constantly jinxing us in the corridors—"
"Before or after you jinxed him?" Hermione demanded. "I know what bullying looks like – I'm not an idiot."
"Snape was Dark," Sirius said vehemently. "Girl, he went Dark. I was doing the world a favor, trying to get rid of him before he could join up with the Death Eaters."
"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione snorted, dismissive.
"I'm not. Severus Snape was a Death Eater, girl. Do you know what that means?" His dark eyes glinted in the dim light. "You have muggle parents, you said. Do you know what Snape would have done to them?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I am not interested in hearing your imaginary justification for your vendetta against Severus Snape," she said. "I am interested in hearing how you ended up imprisoned for the murder of Peter Pettigrew, when Pettigrew is, in fact, alive, according to your claims."
"He is alive," Sirius said immediately, scowling.
"How are you sure of that?" Hermione asked. "If he's just a rat—"
"Not just any rat," Sirius spat. "Saw him in the Daily Prophet. Minister left one behind at the prison – he was on the boy's shoulder. Recognized him immediately – he's still missing a toe."
Hermione paused.
"A finger was the largest piece of Pettigrew they were able to find," she said slowly, thinking back.
"Makes sense," Sirius said, his voice vicious. "I had him cornered, and suddenly he starts yelling for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed James and Lily. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with his wand behind his back – killed everyone within twenty feet of himself – and sped down into the sewer with the other rats."
"So he paused to cut off his finger before transforming to frame you?" Hermione said doubtfully.
"Nah," Sirius dismissed. "Probably blew if off with the spell by accident. He never was the best at spellwork."
"This is unbelievable," Hermione said, incredulous. "Animagi can change into and out of animal form at will. You're saying he chose to spend twelve years as a pet rat? Why did he never transform back?"
"Maybe he forgot how." Sirius shrugged. "He'd have had to go into hiding if he did, or try and make it in the muggle world. Maybe he was just lurking around – waiting to hear word of Voldemort coming back before he took off to go help."
"Why didn't this come out at trial?" Hermione demanded. "It's an incredible story, sure, but surely they could have used Priori Incantantem on your wand to see that you hadn't cursed the muggles?"
Sirius started laughing.
"Trial?" he said, shaking his head. "What trial, girl?"
Hermione froze.
"…your trial for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and the twelve muggles," she said slowly. "The one you had before you were convicted and thrown in Azkaban."
Sirius kept laughing, a deranged, cracked sound.
"No such thing, girlie," he crooned. "They just threw me into Azkaban to rot. Never had a trial. Never got a day in court."
Hermione felt like she couldn't breathe.
"You are telling me," she said, her voice shaking, "that the Wizengamot just threw a man into Azkaban, with the dementors, and gave him a life sentence – without ever giving him a trial?!"
Sirius grinned at her shrill tone, eyes glowing from his sunken sockets.
"Does that injustice bother you, girl?" he said. He laughed. "Can't blame you – rather bothered me too."
He was saying something else, but Hermione could hardly hear him. Her ears were ringing, and there was a pressure behind her eyes that made it feel like they were about to burst.
Sirius Black, alleged right-hand of Voldemort, had never had a trial. He'd never had a trial. And at least part of his story checked out – she knew they'd done the Blood Debt ritual correctly, and they'd gotten Ron's stupid rat as a result. The rat that Ron had just been saying had lived so unusually long, the one who was somehow smart enough to avoid all the cats of the castle too. Which meant the Ministry had thrown an innocent man into Azkaban for a crime he hadn't committed. Azkaban. With dementors feeding off of his magic for years.
Hermione vaguely realized she was shaking, she was so furious.
Sirius was starting to look alarmed.
"Is there an earthquake?" he asked. "This—we're in a tunnel. It's not—"
Abruptly, Hermione realized she wasn't shaking – she was shaking the ground. She took a deep breath and focused on her magical core, inhaling and exhaling carefully, centering her magic and containing her rage. The ground shaking around her slowly stopped, and Sirius looked more alarmed than before.
"That was you?" he demanded. "You were shaking the ground? How—"
"Here's what we are going to do," Hermione interrupted. She fixed him with a look. "You are going to come with me as my prisoner, and you will stay my prisoner while I verify as much of your story as I possibly can."
"Your prisoner?" Sirius scoffed. "What, plan on hiding a fugitive under your scummy bed in Slytherin?"
"As my prisoner," Hermione continued, ignoring his jibes, "you will be given food and water, and treated in a humane manner. I'll see if I can arrange a bath of some sort, too," she said, eyeing him up. "You desperately need one."
Sirius looked suspicious.
"And?" he said. "After you verify my story? Then what?"
"If your story checks out," she said, "then I start work on how to get you a fair trial. I have Peter Pettigrew still captured in my room, so I suspect once we can get you a trial, proving your innocence will be fairly straightforward."
"You have him?" Sirius' face transformed into a mask of rage. "Give him to me! I'll leave Hogwarts afterwards, I'll leave you all alone – I just want to commit the murder I was accused of. Give me my revenge, girl—"
"If your story does not check out," Hermione continued, ignoring his outburst, "then you will remain my prisoner until such a time the Dementor's Kiss has been abolished as a method of punishment. Probably until Azkaban has no longer is being guarded by dementors as well, actually. I'll still make sure you get a trial, for justice's sake, even if it will just finally formally convict you."
"Abolish the Dementor's Kiss?" Sirius was laughing. "You are ambitious, girl, aren't you? Lily was always going on about the Dementor's Kiss too, once we learned in Defense – didn't sit right with her. The muggles had already stopped killing criminals for years…"
"Makes sense," Hermione said. "Now – do you agree to my terms?"
Sirius snorted.
"Didn't realize there were terms," he said. "What am I agreeing to now?"
"I will release you from your bindings, and you will transform into a dog once more," Hermione said. "I will then bind you again. From there, I will take you to your new – err, let's call it a 'jail cell', but more your new temporary residence – before I unbind you again and leave you there. You agree to transform into a dog and to not hurt me as I transport you, and I agree to make sure you are treated humanely."
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"And if I don't?" he asked.
"Well," Hermione said, musing. "I guess I keep you here? I can fit a dog under the invisibility cloak with me, but not a full-grown man. I don't know who else comes through here, though, so it wouldn't be very safe. Though I could make an enclosed cell in the ground here, I guess – just an empty sphere in the ground. Wouldn't be easy to get food and water to you, though… or easy to find you again eventually... and it might run out of air…"
Sirius' eyes had gone wide. He coughed.
"I agree to your terms," he said hoarsely. "I'll transform and let you tie me up."
"Excellent!" Hermione clapped her hands, pleased. She stood up, raising her wand, and she levitated Sirius so he was back on his feet as well. "Ready?"
With a wave of her wand, his ropes fell away, and Sirius staggered for a moment before regaining his balance. He looked at her carefully, as if surprised she kept her word, but Hermione kept her wand aimed firmly at him, pleasant smile fixed on her face.
"Now, you transform," she reminded him.
"Right," Sirius said. He paused. "Just… be careful with the ropes, will you? I'm fragile right now, as a dog."
Hermione blinked. "Fragile?"
Sirius coughed. "Dangerously thin. Mostly just skin and bone. Had to be, to fit through the bars of Azkaban. But…"
Hermione's eyes softened.
"I'll be careful," she promised. "Whenever you're ready?"
Sirius took a deep breath, drawing himself up, before there was a blur of magic, and an enormous, shaggy, jet-black dog stood in his place, panting. Hermione waited a moment, but the dog made no move to charge her.
"Incarcerous."
With her intent in mind, the ropes flew from her wand once more, but they were careful – binding the front and back paws together, then all the paws together, while another thick rope acted as a sort of gag/muzzle, locking itself firmly into the dog's jaw and tying behind his head. Hermione looked him over critically, ensuring there was no undo pressure being used, before attempting to pick him up.
"Aagh—!"
Dangerously thin or not, Sirius as a dog was huge and heavy, and Hermione toppled over, dropping him in the process. She panted for a moment, before she sighed.
"Fine," she grumbled. "We'll do this the hard way."
She drew her magic through her air elemental, and she felt it take hold of the giant dog, lifting it from the ground. The dog's eyes went wide at the wandless levitation, and it tried to whinny, with little success. Hermione pressed her hand to the wall of the cave as well, and slowly the earthen tunnel blocking the cave receded back into the walls, clearing the path once more.
She let the tiny alcove be. It wasn't hurting anyone.
"This is going to be incredibly awkward," Hermione murmured, levitating the giant dog into the air right in front of her. She carefully draped the cloak over both of them as best she could. "My feet are definitely going to stick out."
She navigated them back through the tunnel, practicing managing both levitating the dog and keeping them under the cloak, until she came to the entrance back into the school. She was about to open the hump when she heard noise from the other side, and she froze.
"I forgot," she murmured. "You were seen, trying to find Ron's rat. They're probably searching the school again."
The dog whimpered quietly. Hermione sighed.
"We'll have to wait until they've given the all clear," she said. "That'll take hours – probably until dawn, judging from last time." She checked her watch, letting out a loud sigh. She leaned against the side of the tunnel and slid to the ground, thunking her head on the earth. "We might as well get a quick nap," she said, settling him back onto the ground as well. "We're going to be here a while."
The dog huffed and let out a sigh of its own, but Hermione closed her eyes, resting her head back on the wall as they settled in to wait.